The battle for the future of business is over and most people don?t know who won. Here?s a hint, if you?re linear, logical and rational, I?d like to be the first to offer my condolences.

Linear thinking has fallen victim to three distinct and sobering factors. Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, describes them as Abundance, Automation and Asia.

Abundance is the most interesting of the three because it is emotional in nature. Decade after decade, our standard of living has increased in the U.S. Yet during the same period, our life satisfaction levels have remained just that ? level.

The need-for-satisfaction void hasn?t been filled, although our garages, attics and storage facilities have. The growth of mini or self-storage industry demonstrates the prosperity today?s consumers face. The country possesses some 1.875 billion square feet of personal storage. One in 11 American households own self-storage space?an increase of some 75 percent from 1995. And notice the popularity of reality shows like Clean Sweep and magazines like Real Simple. We have so many products we?re buying products to deal with our products.

Led by our great linear thinkers, we have created a prosperity that could not be imagined by Americans a generation ago.

And yet, we?re not satisfied.

The effects of automation have been well documented when it comes to blue-collar jobs, but the white-collar left, linear thinker will be the next segment to fall victim. The routine functions of computer programming will soon be performed by, what else, another computer. Appligenics has developed a software program that writes software ? and the next demographic to join the unemployment line is born.

The final blow to the linear thinker is also the most documented: Asia. One out of 10 U.S. computer software and IT jobs will move overseas in the next two years. One in four IT jobs will be off-shored by 2010. Where does that leave American business? In a whole new business environment. No matter what product or service you deliver, successful businesses must be in the meaning business.

Let me explain.

Our world is searching for meaning. We?re so desperate for meaning we look for it in even the most mundane things. Consider the success of Michael Graves, an architect-turned-product designer. Graves created a beautiful, whimsical $135 teapot. Let me repeat that. It is a teapot. It is $135. Now if that doesn?t cause the jaw to drop, he sold 1.3 million of them. This is a shining example of where we are as a society. Our society attempts to buy meaning, one $135 teapot at a time. It isn?t working. Despite the beauty of our $135 teapots and $65 toilet brushes, the meaning ? the joy ? is fleeting.

The material goods bubble will burst, and it will burst very soon. Imagine all the Baby Boomers sitting at home with their attics and basements full of stuff they don?t need and a self-storage bill in their hands. They?ll soon discover that the accumulation of stuff has brought nothing in return. This discovery will cause an epiphany on a generational scale. The need for meaning will finally be voiced ? and loudly. When that declaration is made, it will mark the dawn of the new economy.

The evolution of our economy has been rapid and mind numbing. We?ve moved from an Industrial Economy to an Information Economy to a Service Economy in less than a generation. And we aren?t finished yet. Today we are on the cusp of the Meaning Economy. Those who seize the opportunities first will be the leaders of the future.

Successful businesses will excel in the one thing that can?t be outsourced to another country or duplicated by a microprocessor. The ability to evoke feeling, the skill of uncovering and conveying context, the creation of beauty ? in short bringing meaning to the consumer. While a computer can translate Spanish, it takes a human being to truly interpret the deeper meaning, to move beyond what is said and communicate how it is said.

These functions, and many like them, will usher in the new Meaning Economy.

Learn the new rules quickly, knock the cobwebs off your imagination and take it to the office. If you do, you?ll be on top as the Meaning Economy moves from business secret to global phenomenon.

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